Hat Up September 30, 2011

I dithered for a few weeks over the new selection of steampunk top hats at Head ‘n Home. They all have their own wonderful qualities and I want them all. I can’t have them all. Well, I suppose I could, but I need to make some sort of gesture toward being an actual responsible adult. But as usual I couldn’t really decide on just one, so I bought two. Even deciding on this was an agony. This one I knew I was going to have to have the instant I saw it:

Arronax Black

This thing is every inch of fantastic implied by the picture. I LOVE the wrinkled leather texture and the low crown makes it very wearable. The one knock on the tall top hats is that they’re a bit on the heavy side. Still, their fabulousity more than makes up for it. Which leads me to the next hat. THIS is where the agony started. Recall that I already had TWO black leather top hats that I bought from this place previously: the smooth and suede versions of their original topper. This was the previous incident where indecision was resolved with an application of money. When surveying the new selection the second hat I zeroed in on was the Red Vested Black. But I already have two black hats and now I’m buying a third with the Arronax. I just can’t get another one, red vested or no. So the next one had to be one of the brown ones. Ultimately I decided on one that was as stylistically different from all the other ones as possible:

Century Brown

The Absinthe hat is also striped like this, but the Century is the only hat in the collection to use fabric as a design element and that was the deciding factor. I am very pleased with it and it’s a welcome addition to my menagerie.

As always clicky the pic for a link to Head ‘N Home for these specific hats. If you’re leery about buying a hat online because of maybe it not fitting right when you get it, let me assure you. Take a moment to accurately measure your head as they suggest and that will get you a pretty close hat match to your size. They have a really nifty sweatband sizing system that they send with the hats so that you can get the exact fit you need. I have seven of their hats now and they all fit EXACTLY. The steampunk hats have them front and back so they have even more sizing options.

After ordering the two hats above, I was still obsessing over that snazzy red vested hat. It has a pocket. I’m a BIG FAN of pockets. I want a pocket on one of my hats. Want? No, it’s not really a matter of “want”. I really need a pocket on my hat. Now that I know that a pocketed vest/corset exists for black leather top hats I MUST have one. But again, I already have two black leather unvested top hats. The basic design of the vested top hat looks a lot like the hats I already have. No, they don’t sell the red vest as a separate item. But…an email doesn’t cost anything does it? So I sent one (prefaced with a judicious amount of [well deserved] butt-smoochery) that asked if they would make and sell me a vest for one of my older toppers. I got a prompt response from the Head Man himself that they would be happy to do so. He still has to work out the price for my special order but I’m sure it will be reasonable.

Enclosed with my order were some cards. If you have hat envy you can get a 10% discount on an order if you use code ENVY11 when you check out. Just thought I’d pass that along.

Related

Comments

Yeah, the one problem with top hats is that if you’re going to wear one the rest of your clothes need to be upgraded a bit to match the inherent formality of the hat itself. It doesn’t have to be a tux with tails certainly, but t-shirt, shorts & sneakers really doesn’t cut it. It’s almost October and we’re still hitting high 90 – 100 degrees. I only wear t-shirts, shorts and sneakers in this abominable climate. Once it cools off I’m inclined to wear more formal wear more often, but I’m usually in casual stuff. So yeah, more of a special occasion for the top hats.